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Colonial Crisis War
The Colonial Crisis War was a low-intensity conflict fought primarily in the space of the Sol System, between various Earth nations. Its immediate causes were the development of the Alcubierre Drive and the subsequent successful warp flight to the nearby system of Alpha Centauri, which was the catalyst to humans' First Contact, with the Ishamshuk Empire. This combination of events happened in such rapid succession that it lead to various crises and flashpoints throughout Earth and the Solar System, as each country was eager to exploit the infinite natural resources of interstellar space, especially now that many shortages in key resources were on the rise after centuries of over-exploitation. Prior to the warp drive's development there were already humans living on Earth's Moon and Mars, but these colonies were miniscule and economically insignificant, with slow population growth due in part to the high-expense nature of sub-light interplanetary travel. With the warp drive, countries sought to expand and exert power over these early colonies and build more throughout space. With no clear boundaries or rules however (besides a centuries-old treaty made during the Cold War) things slowly escalated into skirmishes between major powers in deep space. Contact with the Ishamshuk Empire further complicated matters, as no one could agree on who should represent the human race and conduct trade with the extraterrestrials. It was obvious to everyone that any country which did trade with the Ishamshuk would be put at an enormous technological advantage, but that was not the only concern. In any case however, the Ishamshuk chose not to trade with any of the humans at this stage, for a few reasons: first among them was that they knew the situation was unstable and would rather not interfere. Secondly, the humans had essentially nothing to offer the Ishamshuk - they were resource poor, relatively backwards, and had no starcharts. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the Sol System observation post was awaiting word to reach Ichtalu before taking any kind of action. While the conflict was larger in scale than any previous one in human history, it was fairly low intensity and few people died or suffered as a direct consequence of it. Those who did the most, however, were the descendants of the Lunar colonists on Earth's moon, a small number of people scattered in a series of small outposts and Helium-3 mining towns, who were not considered to be part of any one country. Occupied and re-occupied and bombarded several times over by various Earth-based powers, one of the war's most enduring legacies is the formation of a Lunar Republic, a Lunar nation, and an associated identity that its citizens have. The independence of the moon was formally recognized in the Treaty of Tokyo, when the country hosting the committee, Japan, sent an invitation to the self-proclaimed Lunar Republic to participate in the peace talks. The aforementioned Treaty of Tokyo did a number of things. Most importantly for humans today, it created the Human Domain in its earliest form. ---everything is liable to retconn past this point--- Course of the War The Colonial Crisis War was fought on a global - and, indeed, solar - scale. Solar System The war was the very first, for humans, to feature operations near or on the surface of extra-terrestrial objects outside of Earth's gravitational sphere. The very need for battle-ready military spacecraft capable of, at least, interplanetary travel and endurance, forced the warring powers to improvise. The most logical choice, after due deliberation, was to re-purpose submarines. Submarines are, of course, already well-insulated against the environment, capable of sustaining on their own for long periods of time, and naval crews already had great experience working with its components and tools. Submarines in many navies were heavily modified. They were encased in atmospheric shielding, SONAR systems replaced with RADAR, and given rudimentary systems for water treatment, energy generation, and food storage, preservation, and other such nuances. One of the most important changes was the refit of submarines with, most often, Ionic Thrusters, rather than propellers. Most submarines kept their cruise missiles as primary weapons, and the biggest modification to their armament was not in the submarine but in the missiles themselves. Some months later, some nations began to fit small laser cannons aboard these submarines, with a limited degree of success. Submarines' existing weapons computers were not calibrated to work with such weapons in such an environment, and so these cannons were usually individually-crewed. Getting the modified submarines into space along with their crew and weapons was the next major obstacle. For this purpose, nations developed massive launch systems, the largest of which was the Triton series of re-usable rockets. The submarines were often sent up to orbit in parts which needed to be assembled in a process taking hours to days. The first engagements were fought to establish or maintain supremacy of Earth's orbit. This supremacy changed hands several times during the war. Eventually these battles spread to The Moon, prompting multiple ground invasions and occupation of what had become so strategic a position. On rare occasions, human starships from competing powers had encountered each other as far out as Jupiter. Legacy One of the strangest impacts of the Crisis War was that it brought a "divided unity" to all mankind. While Earth was still a world shared by more than two hundred sovereign states or political entities, Earth's peoples could agree on one thing - the expansion of an empire across the stars. There were many reasons to go into space. Some were practical, others, romantic. The respectable empire that humans rapidly blossomed into brought most of the wealth to concentrate at Earth. Earth soon became the wealthiest planet in the Human Domain and possibly even the galaxy, depending on how one measures wealth. While all wealth concentrated to Earth and its self-aware metropolises and increasingly bureaucratic and workaholic society, its colonies became exploited, extorted, and blackmailed by megaconglomerates that invested in colonies' construction only to suck away their money and potential for wealth and filter it back to their corporate headquarters. These megaconglomerates use this money for their own benefit and to aid in competition with other such super-corporations, providing the means to produce their own military and exert power in much the same way as a Stellar Empire. But also visible was the war's influence on many of the planets and systems very near to Earth. Mars saw its first cities blossom as desperate refugees fled the fighting. Euration grew into a major interstellar force, with the guidance of Andor Bjornson, whilst the warring nations were distracted. The Moon not only developed strong feelings of nation and people, but earned independence as a direct consequence of the conflict. Had the Colonial Crisis War never happened or things had gone differently, the sheer divisiveness of mankind that exists today may at least have subsided somewhat, and given colonies a chance to be nurtured by caring overlords rather than exploited by greedy viceroys and federations. The war laid the foundation for the world's wealthiest nations to have an unshakable grip on remaining so. Category:Wars